Twisting spindle



Sept. 19, 1961 A. w. VIBBER 3,000,170

TWISTING SPINDLE Original Filed May 8, 1951 INVENTOR United States Patent r 3,000,170 TWISTING SPINDLE Alfred W. Vibber, 116 Pinehurst Ave., New York, N.Y. Original applications May 8, 1951, Ser. No. 225,209, now Patent No. 2,843,997, dated July 22 1958, and Aug. 19, 1957, Ser. No. 678,861, now Patent No. 2,952,114, dated Sept. 13, 1960. Divided and this application June 3, 1960, Ser. No. 33,844

6 Claims. (Cl. 57-5836) This invention relates to apparatus for controlling the balloon of a spindle for twisting and/ or plying strands.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 225,209, filed May 8, 1951, now Patent No. 2,843,997, and of application Serial No. 678,861, filed August 19, 1957, now Patent No. 2,952,114.

The invention has as one object thereof the provision of an improved supply or uptwister spindle.

Another object is the provision of an improved tension imposing device for a twisting spindle.

The above and further objects of the invention will be more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of -a preferred embodiment of the invention. It is to be expressly understood that such embodiment is illustrative only, and that the invention is not limited thereto.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic view in side elevation of an illustrative embodiment of twisting spindle in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view partially in side elevation and partially in horizontal axial section through the active flyer arm of the spindle of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1 there is shown an uptwister generally designated 10 having an upstanding central shaft driven by a belt 16 extending from a motor (not shown). The spindle is provided with a flyer in the form of a two-armed cross member, one such arm, designated 11, being the active, strand conducting arm, and the other arm 14 being an inactive, balancing arm.

The central shaft of the spindle carries a strand package 17 thereon, the package being non-rotatably held in space by conventional means such as counterweights or magnets, not shown. The yarn strand 19 from the package 17 passes through a first tension imposing means 20, which may be of the type employing a magnetically held ball, and thence downwardly in a vertical run into a twisting guide 21 secured to the upper end of the central shaft of the spindle. The strand then passes down through a central passage in the main spindle shaft and out through the central passage in the active arm 11 of the flyer. After passing through a second tension imposing means 12 secured to the outer end of arm 11, the strand passes into balloon 22, which is created and maintained by the spindle.

In the embodiment shown, the spindle forms the strand of elongated flexible material into a loop, which includes the free flying balloon as a part thereof, said loop extending from the junction of the axial and radial passages in the spindle shaft or flyer, which lies on the axis of the shaft and of the loop, back to the axis of the shaft and loop at the eye 24. The flyer in all the embodiments shown may be considered to be a part of the spindle shaft, since it is non-rotatably affixed thereto, and rotates with such shaft about the longitudinal axis of the shaft.

The balloon may be defined as the surface of revolution defined by the portion of strand 19 rotating between the outer end of the flyer 10 and the apex guiding eye 24. Such balloon is a portion of a loop which extends from the axis of the spindle, radially outwardly of the flyer, and through the balloon to the guide 24, which is coaxial of the spindle and spaced axially therefrom.

The upper end of the balloon is guided by an eye 24 which is mounted for vertical adjustment toward and away from the flyer of the spindle along the axis of such spindle. Eye 24 is supported on a fixed frame part 25. A vertically reciprocable slide 26 is mounted in a vertical guideway on frame part 25, slide 26 carrying a horizontal arm 29 at its lower end. Eye 24 is afiixed to the outer end of arm 29.

Vertical adjustment of eye 24 is effected by a screw 31 which has threaded engagement with a nut 30 afiixed to slide 26. The upper end of screw 31 is rotatably mounted in a member 32 affixed to frame member 25, member 32 retaining the screw from reciprocation. The screw may be turned by a knob secured to its upper end. By a suitable adjustment of eye 24, a balloon 22 of the desired height may be attained to give it the proper diameter and stability for a given type of strand, effective diameter of flyer, and speed of rotation of the flyer.

It is usually necessary to provide in spindle 10 a tension means additional to the adjustable magnetic ball tension 20 shown at the top of the spindle, both because such magnetic ball tension devices are limited as to the total force which they can impose upon the yarn, and also because the yarn, when engaged by such means, is in flat untwisted condition and therefore lacks the requisite strength as a whole to be engaged by a single tension imposing means contributing the total back tension effect required by the singles balloons. The material receives a first twist in the zone of travel immediately below tension means 20, thereupon entering the twisting guide at the top of the main shaft of the spindle. After thus being first twisted, the material is stronger as a whole and may receive a second, larger, back tension, before it enters the singles balloon. In the embodiment shown, such additional tension is produced by means of the tension means 12 mounted on the arm 11 of the double-armed flyer. The other, balan ing, arm of the flyer is designated 14, there being mounted on the other end of such arma nonoperative, bal-ancing means 15, so that the flyer is in dynamic balance.

As shown in FIG. 2, there is screwed into the internally threaded arm 11 of the flyer the end of the adjustable sleeve 34. Such sleeve is firmly held in arm by means of the two lock nuts 36 and 37. On the outer end of sleeve 34 there is threaded the tension device 12, the externally threaded end 40 of the sleeve being received in a threaded recess in means 12. The parts 34 and 12 are firmly held together by means of lock nuts 41 and 42. To facilitate mounting and 'dismounting of the tension device and the sleeve on the arm, the threads 35 and 40, respectively, may be made right and left hand threads, the sleeve being conveniently turned by means of the hexagonal shaped unthreaded portion 39.

The tension device 12 incorporates therewithin the thread guiding tube 45, the tube having a smoothly curved passage therein alternately lying on one side of and then the other side of a radial line in the flyer. In the embodiment shown the tube 45 has a helical configuration having a suificient number of helices therein, and the helices being of such pitch and length of travel, that tension device 12 under operating conditions imparts to the single twisted thread entering it and passing through it into the balloon 22 a tension which, in addition to the tension imposed by the primary tension means 20, equals the back tension necessary to balance the balloon 22. The strand 19 travelling through the tube 45 is, of course, subjected to bending in travelling through the helices of the tube; and such portion of strand 19 in tube 45, having appreciable mass, is also subjected to centrifugal force which throws it strongly into engagement with the wall of the tube at the left in FIG. 2. The particular configuration of the tube 45 required for any twisting operation can readily be arrived at, and it is convenient to provide a series of tension means 12 having tension imposing etfects in steps of, say, fifty grams. The gaps between such tension devices may therefore be readily filled by adjustment of the ball tension means 20.

Tension means 12 may conveniently be made by first providing a tube 45 of suit-able hard smooth wear-resistant metal, bending it into the desired configuration, and then mounting it in a mold as an insert, after which the metal forming the main body 44 of device 12 may be cast about it.

It can be seen, therefore, that the flyer'with the replaceable tension means 12 thereon can, in conjunction with the adjustable eye 24, provide a singles balloon having the requisite Weight of material in it and the required speed of travel about its axis, so that, for example, the sum of the tensions in two singles balloons 22 will equal the tension in the take-up balloon, at its medial diameter, in a three-spindle system wherein two singles strands are plied at a take-up spindle.

Whereas for purposes of illustration 1 have described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of my improved singles supply spindle and of the novel back tensioning device employed therewith, it is to be understood that such embodiment is illustrative only and that the invention is capable of considerable variation as to details. The invention is, therefore, to be defined by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim as new the following:

1. A supply spindle for twisting elongated flexible material comprising a hollow rotatable shaft, a package support floatingly mounted on such shaft, a flyer mounted on the shaft, said flyer having a generally radially directed passage therein communicating with the bore through the shaft so that the material may be pulled from the package downwardly through the shaft and outwardly through the flyer into a delivery balloon, and a material tensioning device in the flyer, said tensioning device comprising a spiral passage in such flyer, the spiral passage being a part of the generally radially directed passage, whereby the material is thrown into contact with the walls of the spiral passage by the centrifugal force of the flyer.

2. A spindle for twisting elongated flexible material comprising a hollow rotatable shaft, a package support floatingly mounted on such shaft, a flyer mounted on the shaft, said flyer having a generally radially directed passage therein communicating with the bore through the shaft so that the material may be pulled from the package through the shaft and thence through the flyer, and a material tensioning means in the flyer, said tensioning means comprising a material-diverting passage in the flyer which is located a substantial distance from the axis thereof and is a part of the generally radially directed passage therein, the material-diverting passage being so constructed and arranged that the material is thrown into frictional contact with the radially outer wall of the material-diverting passage by the centrifugal force on the material caused by rotation of the flyer.

3. A supply spindle for twisting elongated flexible material comprising a hollow rotatable shaft, 21 package support floatingly mounted on such shaft, a flyer mounted on the shaft, said flyer having a radial passage therein communicating with the bore through the shaft so that the material may be pulled from the package downwardly through the shaft and outwardly through the flyer into a delivery balloon, a material tensioning device in the spin dle, and a balloon guiding eye axially above the spindle, the flyer being adjustable so that the length of the radial passage therethrough may be varied.

4. A spindle as claimed in claim 3 wherein the flyer includes a material tensioning device therein.

5. A spindle for handling elongated flexible material travelling therethrough, comprising a rotatable shaft, said shaft having a generally radial passage therein, means on the shaft engaging a loop of material rotating about the axis of rotation of the shaft, the material at one end of the loop extending into said passage in the shaft, means to guide said material into the loop, said loop engaging means comprising material-tensioning means eccentric to the axis thereof and rotatable with the shaft and with the loop about the axis of the shaft, the tensioning means being positioned a substantial distance from the axis of the shaft and including a surface fixed with respect to the shaft and disposed at a marked angle to the general extent of the passage in the shaft, said surface directly contacting the material and exerting a retarding force upon the material as a result of the thrusting of the material within the passage in the shaft and confronting said surface against such surface by centrifugal force upon rotation of the shaft.

6. A supply spindle for handling twisting elongated flexible material comprising a hollow rotatable shaft having a longitudinally extending bore therein, a support for a package floatingly mounted on' such shaft, a flyer mounted on the shaft, said flyer having a radial passage therein communicating with the bore through the shaft so that the material may be pulled from the package downwardly through the shaft and outwardly through the flyer into a delivery balloon, and a material tensioning device in the flyer, the tensioning device being positioned a substantial distance from the axis of the flyer and including a surface disposed at a marked angle to the general extent of the passage in the flyer, said surface directly contacting the material and exerting a retarding force upon the material as a result of the thrusting of the material within the passage in the flyer and confronting said surface against such surface by centrifugal force upon rotation of the flyer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,233,645 Smith Mar. 4, 1941 2,451,352 Nau-Touron Oct. 12, 1948 2,492,778 Agrestiet al Dec. 27, 1949 2,952,114 Vibber Sept. 13, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 314,504 Italy Jan. 29, 1934 

